Culvert construction.



c. TRAUB & J. w. HELPREGHT.

GULVERT GONSTRUOTION.

APPLICATION FILED APILZO, 1910.

Patented July 19, 19.10.

marizrjmzzfi w mz/mzz N KN G WNINm u Inventors Attorneys summon, n. r:v

CHARLES TRAUB AND JOHN WILLIAM HELFREGHT, OF GALETON, PENNSYLVANIA.

CULVERT CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 19, 1910.

Application filed April 20, 1910 Serial No. 556,499.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES TRAUB and JOHN W. HELrREoHr, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Galeton, in the county of Potter andState of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful CulvertConstruction, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object of this invention to provide a culvert so constructedthat it may be laid in sections of any desired length, theculvertforming sections being divided horizontally, into upper and lowerparts, each of which may be placed separately, the parts interlocking toform a rigid and permanent structure.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel means whereby twoculvertforming elements may be terminally united.

Another object of the invention is to provide adevice for uniting theends of a pair of culvertforming elements, the device serving to spacethe said elements apart, so that, when the device is removed, the saidparts may be removed individually, without contacting terminally withthe neXt adjacent part.

Another object of the invention is to provide a multi-part culvert, theupper element of which is adapted to be handled readily.

The drawings show typical embodiments merely, and it is to be understoodthat changes, properly falling within the scope of what is claimed, maybe made, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings,-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sectionof culvert constructed in accordance with the invention, parts beingbroken away; Fig. 2 is a top plan of a portion of the culvert; Fig. 3 isan end elevation of the portal; Fig. 4L is a vertical transverse sectionupon the line A-B of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is an elevation of the securingdevice, whereby portions of the culvert are held together; and Fig. 6 isa fragmental transverse section of the securing device delineated inFig. 5.

The device forming the subject matter of this application, consists ofan upper part 1 and lower part 2. These parts 1 and 2 may be roughlydescribed as being trough shaped, each forming approximately one-half ofthe culvert. Extended along the upper edge of the lower part 2, is anupstanding tongue 8,

the culvert parts.

adapted to receive the lower edge 4 of the upper part 1 of thestructure.

The lower member 2 carries a plurality of spaced, transverse ribs 5, andupon the upper part 1, there are transverse ribs 6, adapted to bebrought into alinement with the ribs 5 upon the lower portion 2. As seento best advantage in Fig. 4:, the ribs 5 upon the section 2, are beveledat their upper ends, as shown at 7. The lower ends of the transverseribs 6 of the portion 1 are beveled at their lower ends, as denoted bythe numeral 8, to correspond with the beveled portions 7 of the ribs 5,the ribs 6 being thus constructed in such a manner that, as shown at 9,they extend downwardly beyond the meeting edges 10 of the culvert parts1 and 2. Obviously, the tongues 3 serve to retain the partsl and 2against slipping transversely upon each other; and transverse movementis further prevented by the fact that the portions 9 of the ribs 6extend downwardly below the meeting edges 10 of Upon the upper surfaceof the portion 1 there are longitudinally disposed upstanding ribs 11.These ribs terminate, as shown at 12, a short distance from the ends ofthe part 1. These ribs 11 serve to strengthen the part 1, and to adaptit to withstand the weight of the superposed earth; Owing to the factthat there are no longitudinal ribs upon the lower part 2, the said partmay readily be rotated transversely, so that its upper edges aredisposed in a horizontal plane and adapted to receive the upper part 1,when the same is mounted in place.

At the ends of the parts 1 and 2 there are transversely alinedcircumscribing ribs 7 5, and when two parts of culvert are broughttogether, the adjacent faces 14: of the ribs I upon the two meetingportions, converge toward the center of the culvert, as seen mostclearly in Fig. 1. The remote faces of the ribs are upright, anddisposed at right angles to the axis of the culvert, as denoted by thenumeral 15.

A securing device for holding one length of culvert to another isprovided, the same consisting of semi-annular parts 16, each of which isprovided at one end with an out standing tongue 17 and at the other endare outstanding spaced arms 18 between which the tongue 17 of the otherpart is adapted to be received. In these tongues 17 and arms 18, thereare transverse, alined openings 19, adapted to receive wedges 20. Theseparts 16 are provided with inwardly extended tongues 21, the tongues incross section, taking the form of a blunted wedge, the inclined faces 22of which engage the converging faces 14 of the ribs upon the ends of theculvert sections, as seen most clearly in Fig. 1. The parts 16 of thesecuring device carry depending flanges 2 1 adapted to interlock behindthe upright faces 15 of the ribs, and when the securing device ismounted in place, the blunted edge face 23 of the tongue 21 will bealined with the flowline of the culvert. Thus, one section of culvertwill be spaced apart terminally from the next alined section, and thuseach section of culvert may be lifted out of its place withoutcontacting with those sections which are terminally united with it; andthus, although each length of culvert is isolated from those which arealined with it, the fiowline of the culvert is uninterrupted, by reasonof the fact that the face 23 of the securing device serves to bridge thespace between the meeting ends of the sections. It will be seen that byknocking out the wedges 20, the upper part of a single length 7 ofculvert may be lifted ofi without dis turbing the remaining portions ofthe culvert, and, if desired, a single section of culvert comprising theupper part 1 and the lower part 2 may be removed without disturbingthose sections of the culvert with which the removed parts 1 and 2 areconnected. Thus, a single defective section may readily be replaced,without tearing up an extended portion of the culvert or interferingwith the grade thereof, since the lower part 16 of the securing devicemay be left in place, the upper part 16 of the securing device, and thedefective portions 1 and 2 being simply lifted from their mountings andreplaced by other, perfect elements.

Certain of the transverse ribs upon the upper part 1, denotedspecifically by the numeral 27, and preferably located intermediate theends of the part 1, are connected, adjacent the meeting edges 10 of theparts 1 and 2, by outstanding flanges 28. These elements 28 serve ashand-holds, whereby the upper portion 1 may be lowered into place andremoved, the manipulation of the said upper part 1 being thereby greatlyfacilitated. It is to be noted that these elements 28 do not extend theentire length of the portion of which they constitute a part. This factis of importance, for the reason that the meeting edges 10 areunobscured throughout their lengths, saving only such portions thereofas lie between the ribs 27 and beneath the elements 28. Thus, theworkman who is lowering the upper part 1 into place, will be able tosee, from above the culvert, the meeting edges of the sections 1 and 2,so that he can readily guide the lower edges 4 of the part 1 into placewithin the upstanding tongues 3 of the part 2; the elements 28 thusrendering easy the manipulation of the part 1, without obscuring morethan a small fraction of the meeting edges of the culvert parts.

The novel features of the invention are shown in connection with twostraight culvert lengths but it is obvious that these features may beapplied with equal facility, to tees, crosses, bends, and the like. Y Aspecific delineation of these common elements is considered unnecessary,but, for the sake of illustration, a portal has been shown, the faceplate thereof being denoted by the numeral 25, and the'tubular portionthereof being denoted by the numeral 26, the portal being shown in placein Fig. 1, and serving to illustrate the fact that the connectingmembers 16 may be employed to hold together any of those necessaryelements which commonly enter into a pipe line or culvert construction.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1'. A two-partculvert, one part of which is provided along its edges with outstandingtongues within which the edges of the other part are adapted to bereceived, there being transverse alining ribs upon the parts, the endsof the ribs upon one part being beveled, and the ends of the ribs uponthe other part being correspondingly beveled to extend beyond themeeting edges of the parts.

2. Culvert forming elements, having circumscribing ribs at their ends,the adjacent faces of the ribs of the separate elements convergingtoward the center of the culvert; and a removable securing ring arrangedto inclose the ribs to unite the culvert-forming elements, the ringhaving an annular tongue, the cross section of which takes the form of ablunted wedge, the inclined faces of the tongue being arranged to engagethe converging faces of the ribs, to space the culvert-forming elementsapart, the ring 00- acting with the ribs to maintain the blunted edgeface of the tongue in alinement with the flowline of the culvert.

3. A securing device for culvert parts, consisting of semi-annularsections, one of which is provided with outstanding spaced arms, theother of which is provided with a finger to register between the arms,there being transversely alined openings through the finger and throughthe arms; and a wedge insertible into the openings to draw the partstogether.

4. A culvert consisting of separable upper and lower parts, the lower ofwhich is provided with transverse ribs only, the upper of which isprovided with transverse ribs alining with the ribs 01 the lower parts,In testimony that we claim the foregoing 10 and with longitudinal ribsupon its upper as our own, we have hereto afiiXecl our signaface, therebeing outstanding hand-holds tures in the presence of two witnesses.

uniting certain of the transverse ribs of the CHARLES TRAUB upper partnear the meeting edges of the JOHN WH LIAM H'ELFPEGHT parts, the meetingedges of the culvert parts J x being visible from above the culvert, be-Witnesses:

tween the remaining transverse ribs of the DUDLEY HUMPHREY,

upper part. B. C. STRALEY.

